Bikes not Bombs
Bikes Not Bombs uses the bicycle for social change to achieve economic mobility for Black and other marginalised people in Boston, USA and the Global South. Each year, they collect roughly 5,000 used bikes and tons of used parts from supporters in Greater Boston and New England.
4.Bikes not Bombs
“…more than hipster posturing.”
Bikes are repurposed through their Youth Programs, where teens learn bicycle safety and mechanics skills while earning bikes to keep for themselves.
“With transportation comes opportunity…”
Room Concept
This room focuses on those who have benefited from the Youth Programme. The bikes in the room represent them, each telling their story in their own words.
This room is just about people, no action or reaction to a cause as such, but a room to tell individual stories of those for whom Bikes Not Bombs helped solve problems and turn things around.
Plinths are arranged randomly to seem more relaxed and less formal than if arranged in regimented rows. Think of art galleries; art placed around the room walls causes visitors to subconsciously follow a perceived correct direction, with any bottlenecks causing some people to skip past exhibits.
It will also create interaction between visitors as they change their position around the stand.
The swing tags provide tactile contact, not just learning about the people through technology. It will break down the ‘do not touch’ barrier; it’s a real bike; you can turn the pedals, change the gears, and use the brakes.
The LED screen on the opposite side of the tag wall shows information about Bikes Not Bombs. Visitors control the content through a smaller touchscreen.
Room Experience
Walkthrough: Describing the key points and visual features of the room
1. Visitors step onto the stand at any point. There’s no furniture to affect the flow direction through the display, just the plinths displaying repaired bikes on mechanics' work stands. There’s a smell of GT-85 Spray Lubricant in the air!
2. Each bike has a swing tag hanging on the handlebars with a quote from someone who has experienced the Bikes Not Bombs Youth Programme. Bikes Not Bombs label their bikes in the workshop in the same way.
3. The quote encourages the visitor to listen to the person telling their own story, the path they were on before joining the youth programme and the one they are on as a result. The name, age, and time on the programme are printed beside the headphones.
4. To illustrate the number of people helped by Bikes Not Bombs, the central wall is filled with rows of these swing tags; visitors are encouraged to add them to their scrapbooks.
5. To add contrast between each side, opposite the small paper swing tags, the wall is a large-scale LED screen displaying a showreel about Bikes Not Bombs. The headphones used at the standpoints block out the sound from the showreel.
6. The showreel provides information about Bikes Not Bombs and its work. The touchscreen in front of the wall controls the content. It also puts faces to the names of those telling their stories from the workshop stands.
Above: The view from the floor shows the bike stands and the swing tags hanging along the central wall.
Above: The view of the opposite side of the wall, the LED screen display.
